A Change Of
by Baka Bako
Summary: "We're here to teach you things!" Four OCs arrive in Naruto-verse to the courtesy of their dear author . Armed with the knowledge of the past, the present, and the yet to come, they set out to hone the future generation into sharp, sparkling gems amongst their predecessors. Mostly GEN (due to characters' ages) so occasional fluff, OCs, completely AU. Japanese and ninja material.
1. Gap in the Fourth Wall

**Chapter 1: Introduction****  
****紹介**** - _Shōkai_**

* * *

**Please read this dialogue/listen to this conversation carefully! It might seem unimportant and weird, but it _is_ essential. Hopefully everything makes sense!**

**Edit: Actually, it's ok to skip it ^^ Just scroll down for character information ~ oh and Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for the four OCs: Boku, Aika, Kimi, Osamu.**

* * *

Two girls were standing in the middle of a moderately-spaced empty white room.

"Hi! I am Aika, and this is Kimi," a blonde gave the seemingly empty space a shy yet friendly smile, gesturing to the shorter brunette beside her. They had an audience, and they were full aware of the fact.

Her confidence growing, she continued. "Don't mind her, guys. She's always like that."

Kimi merely scowled further, before asking irritatedly, "Where are the boys?"

"Eh? Ano... Boku probably forgot one of his things aga—"

Two figures suddenly emerged into the space. "Hello! Sorry we're kinda late, I forgot where I put my glasses! I swear I had them next to the sink but—"

"Shut up. We're not interested," Kimi said in a monotone.

Boku blushed, and Aika and the other newcomer exchanged glances.

Aika spoke up. "Oh yeah, Osamu, do you have an idea of how to like, put this whole... thing into words?"

"Un," he replied shortly.

"Should we start?" the blonde asked uncertainly.

Kimi was still frowning, Boku appropriately abashed.

"Whatever. I'll start explaining our life to them," Osamu said.

"Okay. _Dear readers_, we are fully aware that we are essentially, non-existent characters. We know that our Creator is no other than—" he glanced at Aika who mouthed something, "_dear author_ who invented us from the confines of her mind. We belong to her, so we shall not provide any disclaimer on ourselves. However _dear author_ will credit other items that she might use in this story accordingly."

"Stop, stop, stop! It's Boku's turn to speak now."

"Boku?" pointing to himself.

"Hai, kimi."

"Kimi?" pointing to the brunette.

"_Iie, _Boku."

"Kimi?" this time pointing to Aika.

She strode up to the boy and placed her hands on his shoulders. "You, Boku, you."

"Boku."

"Hai. Now _speak!_"

"But I don't know—"

"_Speak!_"

"Just talk, Boku," Osamu said, somehow managing to look both amused and disinterested at the same time.

"Well, we have entered the Naruto-verse willingly—or at least that's what _dear author_ makes us think—and we are sent as chūnin and part-time academy teachers in the Academy. _Dear author_ thinks that the Academy program and mission system and ranking system and stuff kinda sucks and we all sorta agree after like knowing it and..." he trailed off.

Kimi gave him an exasperated glance and picked up where he left. "Today, as you _should_ be aware of, as Naruto fans, is the tenth of October. Or it is in Japan anyway, not that we care what day it is in America."

Aika hissed, "Don't be so rude, Kimi!"

Boku miraculously procured a calendar out of nowhere and flipped quickly towards the end. "Today is the tenth of October in Japan which means it is still the ninth in America—"

"You don't need the calendar to figure that out, Boku," Aika said in a mild condescen.

"—so that means—eh? What? Oh! Oh."

"Let us ignore the interruption, _dear readers._ Naruto is six years old as of today. Because _Naruto_ is, as I am sure you must have gathered, is created in Japan, we shall use a range of imperial to modern Japanese systems and such in this story that is, unless a specific fact stated in _Naruto_, in which case it overrides the real world's. The academic year starts at the beginning of April and so Naruto and those in his generation has been in the Academy for around half a year, including summer break. We will be teaching _dear readers_ in the guise of teaching the students both things in the Naruto-verse, Japanese language, or just general subjects that you should or might be interested to know, depending on your age."

"I'm going to take over now 'cause this is getting a bit wordy," Aika muttered underneath her breath. Sensing a glare, she said hurriedly, "Okay. _Dear author _will be referred to as _dear author_, yes, in italics and everything, as you can see. And _dear readers_ as _dear readers. _She will be very rarely mentioned after this chapter (she does not like calling a chapter "Prologue" as it messes up the numbers of the next chapters in fanfiction) and will try her hardest for us to not be a gang of Mary Sue and Gary Stu and Mary Stu and Gary Sue, but sometimes when you write, you just tend to make your characters super at everything involuntarily.

"But to sum it up, we are currently all up to date with the manga and anime, or at least the relevant parts. _Dear author_ does not like to be reminded that _Naruto _is not available in her region and that she does not have a Premium membership in _Naruto Shippuuden_ (yes she uses Crunchyroll, and recommends you all to do so, too). This means that she has forgotten what exactly happens in the fillers before the timeskip (though she gets the gist of it after reading like a thousand fanfictions) and is a week late of the anime episode (though she has the manga anyway). However, this is all slightly irrelevant except for bits of history that was revealed and some theory behind techniques, et cetera as we are only teaching Academy students and to an extent, the readers."

Osamu interrupted her. "_Dear author_ has a tendency to ramble off when attempting to explain to _dear readers _things. As a result, the trait has passed on to us as we are of her creation."

Boku added, "Oh, uh, there's gonna be heaps of spoilers, too."

Aika said, "Apart from the villages'—mainly Konoha, really—system and our presence, everything else is canon. Our presence itself will change a whole lot of things including behaviour of characters though not to the extent of OOC-ness. But jutsu, history, theory, et cetera will remain the same. All the events up to the tenth of October where Naruto turned six will be canon. However, please note that after that point, there will be a _lot_ of changes happening in the Naruto-verse."

"The story's genre is put under Parody and Friendship. I guess this is sorta a parody of teaching, which doesn't really make sense but oh well and friendship because everybody is still really young and makes friends with each other." Kimi coughed, and they all could hear something that vaguely sounds like "Sasuke" more coughing "friends", and more coughing.

Boku reddened. He cleared his throat self-consciously and raised his voice to be heard over the inexplicable bout of coughing Kimi got. "It's rated K+ because most of the characters will be still fairly young, though chapters with swearing in it will be marked as such. We don't censor words because they look retarded," Boku said firmly. "Oh, and when we appear in Naruto-verse, we will be fully aware of what had happened there and what will happen."

Kimi took over. "This chapter is slightly off because we broke the fourth wall, though it will be patched up by the next chapter and _dear readers _and _dear author's _world will only be referred to in rare occasions. This will also be the shortest chapter as normal chapters will roughly be around 5k or so. Optimally, _dear author_ would like to be able to update every week or fortnightly however if schoolwork interferes it might extend up to every month. Reviews, favourites, and follows are encouraged but not a must for _dear author_ to update. _Dear author_ updates when she can, not when she is bribed to." The last part was said with pride; Kimi looked up to independent people. "_Dear author_ will put up the date of the original upload of a chapter and the date(s) of any further edits and what were edited.

"Normal speech is written like this." _Thoughts and flashbacks are written like this. _"Jutsu! _does not necessarily have to be said to be underlined._"

"Big stuff like the bijuu or summons **speak like this when they are in the same space as the person speaking _or like this when they speak in the mind of the person speaking, or thinking._"**_If that makes sense._ **_Dear author _is included in "big stuff", so _dear author's_ note is written by me mwaahahaha! Actually, the whole thing is written by me. **"_Dear author_ will never ever interrupt in the story flow again, as it is very unprofessional and unbecoming of an author."

**"Chapter and Omake titles are like this, _romaji pronounciation._**Website URLs are like this with a space before their dot. Other uses of **bolded,** _italicised, _or underlined might also be used to highlight certain informations."

"In the following chapters, when we speak we will appear more... normal. _Dear author _will write in British English instead of American. Also, please note that _dear author's_ mother tongue is _neither_ English nor Japanese. Japanese is actually _dear author's _technically fifth language, though _dear author_ never really continued her studies on the third and fourth languages.

"Therefore, please forgive our and _dear author's _mistakes, particularly in the grammatical area, for both English and Japanese language. Please correct us if you think something is wrong and we will look on it in deeper, but please try not to be rude.

"We promise to cease to talk about _dear author_ from now on and continue our business tomorrow, which is teaching. We will also act as a normal character in the world, meaning we will very rarely show awareness of another world. This also means that we do have personal backgrounds which would be revealed in due time.

Finishing off her monologue, Kimi said, "We hope you enjoy this story."

"To be con—"

"Wait!" Aika yelled, cutting off Boku.

Aika gathered the three other teens into a huddle. After a few moments of hushed whispers, she shouted, "Three, two, _one!_"

**"_DEAR AUTHOR_ DOES NOT OWN _NARUTO _OR ITS CHARACTERS OR ITS TECHNIQUES OR ITS PLOTLINE AND PLACES. THAT HONOUR BELONGS TO MASASHI KISHIMOTO AND VARIOUS COMPANIES THAT RIGHTFULLY OWN IT. _DEAR AUTHOR_ DOES NOT WANT THIS STORY TAKEN DOWN, SO WE PROCLAIM THIS DISCLAIMER ON HER BEHALF. THIS DISCLAIMER WILL NEVER BE SAID AGAIN AS _DEAR AUTHOR_ IS TOO LAZY TO PUT IT UP. HOWEVER US, Boku, Aika, Kimi, Osamu _DO _BELONG TO _DEAR AUTHOR_."**

"To be continued," Boku said, pleased when he remained uninterrupted.

As the metaphorical curtains closed, Kimi's grumble could be heard. "Don't ever use CAPS LOCK _and_ bold together again. It's very unprofessional and unbecoming."

* * *

**Omake: BAKA BAKO and Site References!**

"Uh hi guys, we're back."

"We can guarantee that this will not happen in future chapters' omake."

"That's right. Osamu?"

He cleared his throat. "Firstly, we need to explain to _dear readers_ the... _wonders_ of our names.

"As _dear readers_ may or may not have noticed, in romaji, our names make the acronym BAKO, which is the second word in _dear author's _name. Which technically means box."

"Of course, this wasn't merely a coincidence. However, we have a problem," said Kimi matter-of-factly.

"If we were to write our names in Japanese kana—which is a writing system in Japan; we will explain tomorrow! if you don't know, that is—and take the first character out of each name, the "acronym" would end up as: BoAKiO, which as far as I'm concerned does not really mean anything.

"Why is this so?" In an undertone, Aika added, "Kami, I hope I don't sound like an Aburame."

"Well, Japanese kana uses a syllabic system instead of letters, so instead of BAKO （ばこ）we end up with BoAKiO （ぼあきお）which sounds retarded." Aika sighed.

"And well you might have guessed this but our surnames make the acronym BAKA in romaji. Except in kana it becomes...: BaAKaA." Boku stretched his mouth out widely for the elongated vowels, causing Aika to laugh at him.

Recovering, she continued for him. "So while we were meant to be called like, BAKA BAKO （ばかばこ、ｉｄｉｏｔ ｂｏｘ）, which is _dear author's_ pen name or alias or whatever, we turn out to be BaAKaA BoAKiO (ばあかあぼあきお）!

**"Now, we will tell you what sites _dear author_ shall be using in this story for references."**

crunchyroll .com - Where _dear author_ watches the _Shippuuden_ anime and on occasion peek at the comments for inspiration.

mangapanda .com - Where _dear author_ reads _Naruto's_ latest chapters.

mangareader .net - Where _dear author_ reads_ Naruto's_ past chapters.

naruto .wikia .com - Where _dear author_ clarifies and finds most of _Naruto's_ more detailed information on jutsu theory, ninja history, people information, geographical locations, etc. because she's too lazy to go through the whole hundreds of chapters to find a specific piece of information.

leafninja .com - Where _dear author_ clarify information from above if she feel it might be incorrect. Occasionally checks forums for inspiration.

**"And the following are what _dear author_ use for pictures."**

dreamself .me - Where _dear author_ creates most of the pictures of people. This was a fan-made site for the online avatar game TinierMe which has now been closed. All images credit go to GCrest. Clothes she draws for BAKA BAKO are either inspired from the graphics there or she tries to find the ones closest to what she has in mind. Is basically a dress-up game except with over 20,000 items, quite a few animated.

pixlr .com - Where _dear author_ would colour or maybe sketch drawings on her extremely laggy laptop, and upload drawings from her phone.

imgur .com - Where _dear author _uploads pictures when pixlr .com gets annoying.

LINE Brush - Where _dear author_ would colour or maybe sketch drawings on our considerably way faster phone.

Phone camera! - Where _dear author_ would take a photo of something she drew on paper and edit the brightness and saturation and contrast and such before colouring them in as opposed to sketching digitally. Her laptop is too slow for her to be able to decently draw, our phone too small to get in the details right or to freehand sketch. We demand a tablet!

**"Other sites _dear author_ use to help the making of this story."**

Google Drive - Where we write this story. We use this because there is a mobile app for it (we spend most the time on our phone) and it has the major functions of **bold **_italic_ underline. Downside is well, the need for Internet connection.

bakabako . tumblr .com - Yes! _Dear author_ made a tumblr for this. She's been using tumblr for a while now so we decided to make another side blog for all things related to Baka Bako. In here, she will worry too much of making her Authors' Note too long and affecting the word count, but there, nobody cares. You will also know more about her future ideas for this story and her herself~** (though I'm not very interesting orz)**

She will also update our, and all drawings she creates regarding to fanfiction will be put up there. However the blog will only solely focus on Baka Bako, so it would be quite a slow blog. You can ask for her other tumblr URLs (she 3 others) if you wish... (why did this become a self-promotion).

"Well, we think that's about it. _Dear author's_ bedtime is hours past by and she is quite woozy but we need to put in a little other tidbit!"

* * *

**Character Information:**

Name: Beppu Boku - 別符ボク  
Age: 15  
Height: 154 cm  
Weight: 55.3 kg  
DoB: Saturday, 18 November - 土曜日１１月１８日  
Zodiac: Scorpio  
Hair colour: Black  
Eye colour: Green  
Blood type: O

Name: Asahina Aika - 朝雛あいか  
Age: 16  
Height: 161 cm  
Weight: 49.8 kg  
DoB: Tuesday, 10 July - 火曜日７月１０日  
Zodiac: Cancer  
Hair colour: Blonde/yellow  
Eye colour: Purple  
Blood type: AB

Name: Konami Kimi - 小波キミ  
Age: 14  
Height: 151 cm  
Weight: 44.2 kg  
DoB: Friday, 8 April - 金曜日４月８日  
Zodiac: Aries  
Hair colour: Dark brown  
Eye colour: Red  
Blood type: B

Name: Aoyama Osamu - 青山おさむ  
Age: 16  
Height: 167 cm  
Weight: 63.4 kg  
DoB: Wednesday, 26 May - 火曜日５月２６日  
Zodiac: Gemini  
Hair colour: White with grey highlights  
Eye colour: Blue-green  
Blood type: A

**Available pictures of BAKA BAKO:**

Beppu Boku: dreamself .me/d/jdjP

Asahina Aika: dreamself . me/d/jbTx

Konami Kimi: dreamself .me/d/jbTw

Aoyama Osamu: dreamself .me/d/jb4w

"Please enjoy our story! We hope you all can learn something while having fun!

* * *

**_List of Canon Characters:_**

**In Academy:**

**First-years, ages 6-7 (21):**

Konoha (11):  
_Male (7):_ Naruto, Sasuke, Shikamaru, Chouji, Kiba, Shino, Sai  
_Female (4):_ Sakura, Ino, Hinata, Shiho

Suna (3):  
_Male (1):_ Gaara  
_Female (2):_Matsuri, Sari

Kumo (2):  
_Male (1):_ Omoi  
_Female (1):_Karui

Kiri (1):  
_Male (1):_ Suigetsu  
_Female (0):-_

Iwa (2):  
_Male (1):_ Akatsuchi  
_Female (1):_ Kurotsuchi

Taki (1):  
_Male (0): _-_  
__Female (1):_ Fuu

Kusa (1):  
_Male (0):_ -  
_Female (1):_ Karin

**Total: Male (11), Female (10)**

**Second-years, ages 7-8 (9):**

Konoha (4):  
_Male (3):_ Neji, Lee, Shin  
_Female (1):_ Tenten

Suna (2):  
_Male (1):_ Kankurou  
_Female (1):_ Maki

Kumo (2):  
_Male (1):_ Atsui  
_Female (1):_ Samui

**Total: Male (5), Female (3)**

**Third-years, ages 8-9 (4):**

Suna (1):  
_Male (0):_ -  
_Female (1):_ Temari

Kiri (2):  
_Male (1):_ Mangetsu, Haku  
_Female (0):_ -

Iwa (1):  
_Male (1):_ Deidara  
_Female (0):_ -

**Total: Male (2), Female (1)**

**Total (33): Male (18), Female (15)**  
Konoha (15): _Male (10), Female (5)__  
_Suna (6): _Male (2), Female (4)_  
Kumo (4): _Male (2), Female (2)_  
Kiri (3): _Male (2), Female (1)_  
Iwa (3): _Male (2), Female (1)_  
Taki (1): _Male (0), Female (1)_  
Kusa (1): _Male (0), Female (1)_

**Other Kids:**

**First-years leftovers, ages 6-7 (9):**

**Konoha (6):**  
_Male (3):_ Hibachi, Kouta, Tobio  
_Female (3):_ Ami, Fuki, Kasumi

Suna (3):  
_Male (3):_ Abiru, Kashike, Tsuchino  
_Female (0):_ -

Konoha's **Younger Generation 3-4 (9):**

_Male (5):_ Konohamaru, Udon, Nobori, Daichi, Kouji  
_Female (4):_ Moegi, Futaba, Matsuri, Hibari

Konoha **Even Younger 1-2 (1)**:

_Male (0): -__  
__Female (1):_ Hanabi

**Total: Male (11), Female (8)**

**_Grand Super Total (53): Male (31), Female (22)_**

* * *

**Original upload date:**** 10/10/13****  
****Last update:**** 24/10/13 - adding canon characters list**

* * *

**That last bit sounds cliché but *sigh***

**This is also my first time writing a fanfic, so things are probably a bit awkward.**

**Okay, there's a bit of a problem here. Haku is female, oh no! At first, I didn't plan it like that. Haku was supposed to be a male, and Kimimaro was supposed to be in the plan, too. However, as you can see, the Sound Four isn't present (I really don't like the way they act in canon) and the classes in the Academy weren't divisible by three, which would make it complicated later, therefore I had to get rid of a character. It was a choice between Shiho, Karin, Fuu, and Kimimaro, and well Shiho was already originally in Konoha, if we have Suigetsu we have to have Karin and anyways Kusa were allied to Konoha so they had to send someone, same with Taki and Fuu and besides Fuu is just awesome, so Kimimaro it is. But if you wanted him to be in, don't worry, because I might have the Sound Four + Kimimaro + Juugo (that makes six, yay) appear sometime later.**

**Oh and, please note I wrote all this before I wrote the next chapter, and because of my lazy ways I forgot half the things I wrote here after I finished the next chapter. If any information doesn't match up, please tell me! Oh yeah, COVER IMAGE DOES NOT BELONG TO ME. It belongs to erina-chan at deviantArt.**

**Well, happy birthday to Naruto! Save the world~!**


	2. Wonders of Tests

**Chapter 2: Tests  
****試験 ****- **_**Shiken**_

* * *

A small boy ran down the stairs of his apartment, given to him earlier this year when he started attending the Academy. The morning was slowly approaching noon, and he was over two hours late to the Academy. But then, he didn't have any intentions to go today.

_Ah, it's so quiet today! _The blond remembered the events that passed in the last few years on this day. The mornings were eerily peaceful and silent, though a veil of mourning settled down on the village. The gravesite and the Memorial Stone were preoccupied by family members and friends paying respects to the dead on the fateful day. As dusk grew near, bars would gradually fill up as the men and women try to forget.

While people usually avoided and herded their child away from him, it was not the case for this day, the tenth of October. The boy would receive direct curses or insults heaped on him, and some even attempted to physically assault him, though those white animal-masked people—ANBU, Iruka-sensei told them—would somehow appear from the shadows and restrain the aggressor.

He supposed it would be easier if he stayed in his apartment for this year—the matron in the orphanage shooed him out for the day once—but what fun would it be if he took the easier way?

The streets were empty, somber aura seeping out from the inside of the houses where housewives mechanically cleaned about their place, husbands taking off time of from their work.

The boy looked up straight ahead, where four faces were carved onto the mountain.

"_Okay, class, as you all would know, tomorrow is the anniversary of the Kyūbi attack and its defeat," Iruka said, standing next to a blackboard in the front of the classroom. Umino Iruka was a part-time teacher for the youngest group of children attending the Academy, as they were still learning the basics of reading and writing, arithmetics, science and such before moving on to the considerably more advanced shinobi theory in their third year. Iruka was present to introduce them to the shinobi history._

"_What do you know about what happened on that day?"_

_Multiple hands shot up in the air. _

"_Yes, Sakura?"_

"_The Kyūbi came and attacked Konoha, destroyed a lot of buildings and the shinobi forces, sensei!" A pink-haired girl sitting next to a blonde answered._

"_And what happened next?"_

_She continued. "The Yondaime Hokage came and defeated the Kyūbi! He's the saviour of this village!" _

And sealed it into a baby, not that any of you would know that. _Iruka sighed, glancing at a particular blond. At first, he had had some qualms about teaching _the_ boy, but after a few months, he came to realise that he was once so much like him; eager to gain acceptance and acknowledgement._

_As if on cue, the said boy stood up and yelled. "Huh! Just you see! One day, I'll surpass him!"_

_The mutters of praises for their hero among the children turned into scathing laughter at him._

_The same boy had made the same proclamation at the start of the school year; on the very first day. Their reactions at first were amusement and doubt; amusement at the boy's seemingly impossible goal, for someone as young as they are, at least, and to some of doubt when remembering their parent's advice: _"Avoid the one with yellow hair and blue eyes." _When the curious children asked for a reason, they would tighten up and snap at them and went on about on how the brat would be a bad influence at them. While children of their age loved to go against their parents' instructions—particularly boys—the ones receiving this order could sense the seriousness behind the words, thus obeying them._

_On that day, several gave him the benefit of the doubt, though after seeing his progress in academic terms, or lack of, most simply scoffed at him whenever he declared his goal again. In fact, all but one, a dark blue-haired shy girl who always sits in the back, unnoticed._

"_You? Ha, you'll never be able to beat me, much less be Hokage! Right, Akamaru?" The white dog barked in support for his partner._

"_He's so loud..." murmured the previous girl, Sakura._

"_I know, right? I wish he'd just be quieter, like Sasuke or someone," the blonde next to her threw a glance at a boy supporting the crest of the Uchiha fan behind his back._

_Sasuke had different thoughts than the others. _If anyone is going to become the Hokage, it has to be Itachi-nī! _His older brother had started training him in the past few months, and the results showed in his academic results, though they had yet to begin taijutsu practices and spars for him to show his skills in the area._

"_Beat you? Here, I'll show you what I've got!" The boy raised his fist, but before he could do anything else, Iruka intervened. "Enough, enough! Sit down, now." _

"_We'll hammer you down!"_

_Not taking too well at being ignored, Iruka's head suddenly grew big to the students. "I said go back to your seats!"_

_The troublemaking boys cowered back into their seats._

_A nice and warm smile suddenly appeared back at the young chūnin's face. "Alright, as I was saying..."_

The Sandaime Hokage, or jiji as the small boy often called him had been the one who explained to him what the Hokage does and his predecessors'—and a sucessor's—past deeds. But what stuck to him the most was when his grandfather figure told him that the Hokage was well-known, and more importantly, _acknowledged and loved_ by the villagers.

He had then announced that he would become a Hokage so that everyone would acknowledge him and in his excitement, he didn't see the small sad smile that passed the wrinkled visage of the Third.

Smiling at the memory, he glanced at the huge faces looming over the village and an idea came over to him._ I'm gonna climb the mountain today!_ The height and the seemingly endless steps of stairs looked daunting, but he'd be damned if he didn't reach the top in a few hours!

With a cry and a punch to the air, he started running to the bottom of the stairs. He _will_ succeed!

* * *

"Enter." An old man said, putting his hands down on the desk covered with paperwork. Though well advancing on the years, he was still regarded as one of the strongest shinobi in the lands. In his prime, the title "Professor" and the third man to gain the title of "God of Shinobi" had stuck to him and he had the power to live up to the name.

Four figures emerged, faces and body build suggesting their ages range from early to mid-teens. Their stances and body language showed that they had some if not decent shinobi training, particularly the tallest one—a blue-eyed white-haired with streaks of grey male whose aura showed more confidence than the others, leading the Sandaime to believe him to be the leader. But of course, appearances could be deceiving.

"Hokage-sama." The four bowed as a show for respect.

He gestured with his hand for them to explain their presence. The boy he had pegged as the leader stepped forward and without further ado, started speaking. "We have come to Konoha to..."

* * *

Outside, another blue-eyed blond, this time a boy collapsed on one of the heads in his tiredness. It took him two hours at most, a feat he felt proud of, considering his age and the height of the stone faces.

After a few minutes of recovering from exhaustion, he started paying attention to his location. His sight was covered by spikes taller than himself standing each spike broad and fairly distanced from the other. The fact that he was standing between the Yondaime's head came over him and he said, "Cool!"

He threaded his way through the spikes only to stop short at the vast air before him; a moment too late and he would've plunged down the hundreds of metres before landing on a ground, most likely as a bloody heap. On the other hand...

"You can see _everything_ from here! Wow!" The "wow" was brought out in a long extended vowel, his voice rising towards the end.

Then, taking a deep breath and a spoonful of his determination and guts, he bellowed a shout. "_Uzumaki Naruto will be the greatest and most awesome Hokage ever, dattebayo!_"

* * *

"Well, that concludes our meeting. I hope this conversation cleared up all our intentions towards this village."

Sarutobi Hiruzen sighed. "I guess it did. Some of your suggestions marvelled me, however, you all did bring up very valid points regarding our village's system. I will put your thoughts to the Council for consideration. You all will be assessed for your strength to be given a rank later today. I trust you all would like to become Academy teachers?"

They nodded, waiting to be dismissed yet feeling there was something else holding the Hokage from doing so.

He sighed again. There was another thing he felt somewhat obliged to tell them, though in all rights he didn't have to, considering they were foreigners in almost every sense of the word and this information would make them act in prejudice towards a member of the society, who had suffered more than he deserved to.

But there was something different and odd about this group of shinobi, something he couldn't put a finger to. All their stories were plausible and he detected absolutely no lie; normally he would put them to some interrogation to prove their sincerity but this time, Hiruzen didn't feel the need to, and he trusted the instinct which had allowed him to survive through the two Great Shinobi Wars.

"Do any of you know what jinchūriki are?"

Looks of recognisation flickered in their eyes, and they nodded in affirmative.

"We have one in this village, and he is attending this Academy as of this year. I hope you will not show prejudice towards him despite the attitude most of the villagers had shown."

"The Kyūbi, I presume?" The blonde, a rather exuberant one, reminding the Sandaime of the subject of the topic, asked.

"Yes. His name is Uzumaki Naruto, and he is loud-mouthed and shows the makings of a prankster, and he—"

A loud shout from outside could be heard through the window.

"Uzumaki Naruto will be the greatest and most awesome Hokage ever, dattebayo!"

Smiles flitted to everybody's faces in the room—discounting those hidden in the shadows—even one on the brunette, the most stoic one's lips had twitched slightly.

"That's him, I suppose?"

"Yes. That's him."

Perhaps they would treat Naruto differently. Though young, they were definitely different from most of their age, and their insightful propositions in regards of the village proved so.

After they took their leave, Hiruzen got out a fresh piece of paper, contemplating the message he would send to the four other kage.

* * *

A loud alarm was cruelly smashed by a small fist on the next morning. It silenced itself for a few moments, before announcing the time again to its irritated sleepy owner. After a few more smashes—and failures—Naruto finally relented.

"Okay, okay!" he grumbled, turning off the clock properly, giving it an evil glare before stretching his small mouth into a wide yawn. He trudged out of his room, still in his pyjamas. Blinking his still bleary eyes, he realised there was something... off.

There was someone in his apartment!

The intruder was a girl, not an adult but definitely way older than him. She was looking out of the window, facing the direction of the Hokage Monument. His first thought was to shout and fight her with his formidable ninja moves before kicking her out of his territory. However, before he made a move, a second thought ran down his mind. _She must be a spy!_ Naruto thought excitedly. _I'll bring her in to jiji and he'll be so proud of me! _He could just imagine being promoted...

"_Naruto, for your services to Konohagakure, you will be allowed to become a ninja—"_

"_Hokage-sama, our village would be conquered and everyone would've died without his help! We have to give him more credit!"_

"_Very well. Now, citizens of Konohagakure, meet your new Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto! And we shall add a life supply of ramen to that!"_

A drool trickled down his chin at the brief fantasy taking over his mind. He snapped to focus. _I have to do this right!_

With a determined look on his face, he tiptoed up to the girl "silently", his slippers not-so-subtly scratching against the wooden floor. He was about to pounce on her before she turned around, causing him to jump back in surprise and in turn crashing on a wall that he'd _swear_ wasn't there before.

"Eeto... are you alright?"

The pigtailed girl blinked her purple eyes at him. Two thoughts popped up in his mind, and after a quick moment of rare indecision, he asked peevishly. "How the hell did you get in here?"

"Language," she scolded him mildly. "Did you set any traps? No? Didn't think so. Of course I'd be able to get in."

Not satisfied with the answer, Naruto decided to blurt out his second thought instead. "You have yellow hair! Like me 'ttebayo!"

A grin appeared. "Of course I do! Blonds are awesome, ne? The Yondaime had yellow hair, too."

Naruto was about to respond when he noticed what the girl held in his grip. "_Hey! _That's my Special Edition Ramen! Give it back!"

She replied in a patient tone. "Naruto-kun, this ramen is several months past its expiry date."

"I _know_ that! But I was saving it for a really really good moment!"

"And when is that?"

"When I become Hokage 'ttebayo!"

She laughed, but it wasn't an unkind one.

"What are you lauging at? The Yondaime's a blond and I'm a blond too so it's obvious I'll be a Hokage!"

"Naruto-kun," the girl said amusedly. "Namikaze-sama wasn't chosen to be Hokage because he was a blond. He was chosen because of his fighting prowess, leadership abilities, and the immense capacity for the Will of Fire he had. Anyways, wouldn't that mean I have more of a chance becoming a Hokage than you? I'm a blonde too, you know."

Unseen to both, a dog-masked ANBU crouched outside the window, listening to every word of the conversation. He knew she didn't mean any harm—she would've been lying dead before she took a step in the boy's apartment—yet it didn't help his curiosity. What was this new Konoha-nin doing with his deceased sensei's mini-me?

He had to find out, especially considering he was in his last days in ANBU, and won't have as much as free access as now. The Sandaime had called him in last evening, telling him that his duty in ANBU—who had been more than happy to welcome him, knowing full well of his capabilites after the toll its force had taken from the disastrous Kyūbi attack—was over as of a week, with the exception of a special mission he was to be given before. The Sandaime had claimed that he was far immersed in grief and that he should socialise more. He would be assigned a genin team next year. _Well, good luck at that._

Unintentionally, he released a very soft scoff. The girl's head shifted minutely at his direction and surprisingly, she held a—confident?—smirk. Extremely mortified, he thought, _Hokage-sama was right, after all. I am now unfit for this duty. _He sported an anime waterfall of tears at the realisation.

Meanwhile, Naruto interpreted the smirk as a mocking insult to him. "Well gues what, I'm plenty strong! You can't beat me! Wait, Namikaze-sama? Who's that?"

"You're a runt. You aren't, and you can't," the girl deadpanned. "The Yondaime was in his mid-twenties when he became the Hokage, and I doubt you're going to keep the ramen till then." Sensing a retaliation, she hurriedly spoke again. "And how could you not know the name of your own hero?

"Besides, you could get sick—actually, you won't," she corrected herself.

As Naruto seemed to always have trouble with, a legion of thoughts circulated in his head at her reply. And so, he simply chose to respond to the last one.

"Eh? How do you know I never get sick? That's it, you _are _a spy, aren't you?"

"You just told me, fishcake." Taking in his indignant face, she guessed easily that he was none too happy about the new nickname. "Now, start eating, don't be late to the Academy!" With that she jumped off the window ledge.

After a few heart-breaking wails of his loss of special ramen, Naruto exclaimed.

"Hey, how did she know my name?" And that the Yondaime—_Namikaze_, the name echoed—was his hero?

Before chalking it to his supreme awesomeness, _of course._

In the back of his head, he happily noted that not once did the girl give him one of those nasty cold glares. _She must be a really nice spy._

* * *

Less than half an hour later, Naruto panted as he ran, still chewing the remains of his hurriedly made toast. "This is all that damn spy's fault," he grumbled.

He burst through the academy's gates and quickly found his classroom where Iruka-sensei—_why is he here already? I thought we don't have him today!—_stood next to jiji and two figures he didn't look too closely on.

His eyes darted around the classroom as he tried to regain his breath. "Sorry sensei, a spy broke into my apartment so—_you!_"

The same girl was standing in front of the class! Why wasn't Hokage-jiji doing anything?

"Me?" she asked in an innocent tone, though her eyes were visibly twinking in mirth.

"She's the spy! Hokage-jiji, she's evil! _She took my special edition ramen cup!_" Naruto emphasised her evil deeds before charging up to her with a battle cry.

Iruka lifted him up by the back of his shirt and hit his head before reprimanding him. "Baka! She is a Konoha kunoichi, idiot, she has our hitai-ate on!" True enough, the metal plate with Konoha's leaf engraved on it sat on a dark purple fabric which was tied around her bare forearm.

The whole class laughed at his foolishness.

The Hokage laughed with them, though more at the supposed "evilness" than anything else. Kakashi had told him about it right after she left.

"It's not nice to attack our own ninja, Naruto-kun," Hiruzen chastised gently to the now sulking Naruto who was set back down on the ground.

He merely stuck out his tongue childishly at the girl before walking to an empty seat.

Iruka cleared his throat. "Now that the commotion has been cleared, you both may introduce yourselves."

_Both?_ Naruto turned around and noticed a shorter brunette beside the blonde. She was quiet throughout the disruption, her face blank as if nothing unusual had happened.

_Eh, who are they, anyway? _He wanted to tknow their names! He shuffled forward in his seat to listen in.

"Hello, my name is Asahina Aika, and this is Konami Kimi," Aika said with a smile, nodding towards Kimi as she did so.

Kimi started speaking. "The both of us will be introducing some of you to a new curriculum. We are aware that it is currently the middle of the year, however the six months available will be enough for you to adapt to the new program and others from various places joining you."

The young children blinked back blankly at her.

"Too wordy," Aika hissed.

"Let me explain," the Hokage stepped forward, and the kids snapped back to attention.

"From now, a third of you will be chosen to take part in a very recently developed teaching system." _As recently as yesterday, _he thought. "For the next six months, it's very likely that a lot of other children your age will come from other countries to study with you."

"Whoa, so cool!" They chorused excitedly.

"Now, you need a parent's—or guardian's," he corrected, "permission to join in this. They will be invited to talk more about the new system. But because not everybody can be a part, we will be doing some tests to decide who can get in or not."

At this, at least half the class groaned. "Tests!"

"I will warn you that they are very hard tests and includes not only book tests but also physical tests. We realise the Academy hadn't taught you any physical exercises at this age, but we will be looking not only for the person who comes out as the top but the one who has the will and the potential to go through the special program."

Hiruzen searched amongst the aisles and saw he'd lost most of his audience. He sighed. "Well, who wants to partake in this new curriculum? If you don't want to have to work hard and end up extremely sweaty and tires by the end of each day, I suggest you not try. No one will be ridiculed for not doing it, you will still be in this class." Albeit a shrinked one.

"Hokage-sama..." a timid voice said, very softly as she raised her hand. The class turned around, surprise at seeing the introverted girl speak up.

"Yes, Hinata-chan?"

Blushing slightly and wondering how the Hokage knew her name, she posed her question.

"A-Ano... what will we be d-doing in this new... new p-program? I-I mean, what is the d-difference between that and t-this one?"

"Ah, of course. If you will, Aika-chan?"

The teen nodded. "Well guys, for some of you this will be good or bad news. You get to _actually_ learn to become a shinobi, _but,_" she emphasised the already excited mutters amongst the children. "This means laps around the courtyard, Academy, or Konoha even someday, heaps of push-ups, sit-ups; well, a lot of physical exercises that _will_ tire most of you out."

Grinning even wider, she continued. "And my personal favourite! More theories and bookwork! And some other things too, of course. You'll learn not only way more about science, maths, geography and history but also about Japanese literature, calligraphy, culture and such." It was hard to detect whether she was being sarcastic or not.

"This doesn't mean you have to be smart. You just have to want to learn. I know you haven't had Iruka-san for a lot of time, but now you will have him and us two as your sensei and perhaps even one or two others. In your last few years you will also be trained occasionally by jounin. Also, if other countries express interest in the program, they will be sending their student here and you get to interact with other people!"

"Other countries?" A student eating a bag of chips questioned.

"Right; you wouldn't know. Well, you will be taught soon if you come along!"

They let the students talk amongst themselves for a few minutes.

"Well?" Aika asked the Sandaime.

"I believe you were right. This generation will bring Konoha a bright future."

"They have a lot of clan heirs and heiresses," Kimi pointed out quietly.

"Correct. And if your initial assessment is to be proven right then the nine would include all of them."

Naruto, while essentially the heir of a whole clan founder of a village and the Yondaime's son, had no other known alive relatives. Sauske had an older brother already, so it wass most likely him not to be a clan heir. Kiba was the same, except a sister than a brother. Sakura's family, meanwhile, while a ninja clan was not very well-known or populated.

After waiting for several more minutes, Aika asked them. "Well? Have you guys decided?"

"Hai!"

"Okay, please stand up, those who decided to leave?" Four stood up, all girls who were put off by the prospect of sweating by the end of the day.

"Oh yes; if you leave now, you may have the rest of the day off." Hearing that, a trio of boys grinned and stood up.

Iruka and the Hokage felt like shaking their heads in disappointment; to think they would sacrifice a better future for a day of freedom.

They heard Naruto grumbling at the side. "If I wanted to leave this place I could've done it any time."

"You sure?" Aika tried to deter the remaining. A pink-haired girl looked the most uncertain, at least the blonde next to her whispered something in her ear, which visibly gave her a boost to her confidence.

The girl from before—Hinata—was poking her fingers together and as the suspense built up, her pokes grew steadily more aggressive yet apprehensive, as if she was trying her hardest to not bolt away.

"Very well. Good job. Now, your first test."

This time, Kimi stepped forward. She smiled a sadistic smile and the Hokage and Iruka watched warily, knowing what was to happen next.

Iruka had objected strongly at this particular test. However, his objections were overruled, and thus he had to watch as in the next moment, all twenty-nine—without any exceptions—gasped for air and struggled to stay conscious.

A soft yet well-refined killing intent brushed over the edges of their consciousness, filling their thoughts with a blur of violent images. It was very mild, just detectable to Iruka and Aika and the Sandaine knew of its presence only bexause he was foretold.

Three girls had fainted. _Ami, Fuki, Kasumi, _Aika noted from her earlier observation of the class. _Fangirls of the Uchiha, even as early as now?_ Two other boys, Hibachi and Tobio had also collapsed as well. Fanboys, this time.

"Drag them out," Kimi commanded sharply. Aika complied and carried the four outside. When she returned, she found that most had recovered from the fright, though one or two was clearly contemplating of leaving.

"That," she said, swivelling her head to glare at all the students, "was _nothing._" Her voice was laced with utter contempt.

"Granted, you are all still very young, so I will not take this under account. A shinobi career is _not_ to be taken lightly. You will be placed in far, far more danger, and I will not waste my time teaching weaklings.

"That was killing intent. The one I just released is far less potent than what I am capable of. Frankly, I doubt that Aika-san or Iruka-san could even feel it, much less the Hokage." True enough, they were unfazed at the display.

"So, any of you leaving?" Aika asked, knowing the answer already. Sure enough, three others left, legs trembling as they scurried as fast as they could outside.

"Well, as you can see, that was a test of your mental strength and will. While Kimi was right—it _was_ a very small amount of killing intent—it would affect you less when you grow older. As for now, let's go outside for the physical test."

Once they were all outside, Aika started speaking again. "This is a very simple test. We are aware that most clans taught their children at a young age shinobi skills." At that, all the clan members shifted slightly, confirming her words. "As the Academy had not yet taught you taijutsu, it would give them an unfair edge to the others. Therefore, instead we will be testing for your will to continue working."

At the puzzled looks, she elaborated. "We will have you run laps around the courtyard until you absolutely cannot take even one more step. We know that each of you have a different amount of stamina, whether it be from previous training or other... circumstances, so we do have an idea on when we expect each of you to tire out. However, we are not interested in that. We want to know how far will you push yourselves beyond that time.

"You will be marked neither on the number of laps you've done or the time you've lasted. We will watch and see who still prevails after their predicted period of time. Understood?" The group of students nodded. Pointing her arm to the right, she said, "Start!"

The first to drop were two girls. After a mere fifteen minutes, where they appeared clearly exhausted yet still managed to walk straightly up to where the teachers and the Hokage were standing, they said that they'd prefer to forgo any physical activities for now, and that they'd rather go back to the previous class.

After forty minutes where most were slugglishly walking and sweating under the piercing rays of the sun, a pineapple-haired boy along with the pink-haired girl dropped in, in which the boy simply provided a "troublesome" and the girl collapsed on the grass, still panting. Not less than five minutes later, three boys and Hinata was next. One of the boys stammered his excuse and backed out of the test even with the glares of his other two friends. He hurriedly left the area.

Between that and the hour mark, more and more continued dropping. When the hour passed, only three persevered: Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke, and Inuzuka Kiba.

"Alright guys, you can stop." Knowing who the winner would be, she stopped them before a promise of an eternal rivalry or something of that sort could ensue.

Turning to the children behind her, she asked again. "Any of you decide to back out?"

A pair of girls nodded, and without giving a reason, walked off, leaving sixteen behind.

"Well then, it's time for the written tests!"

"But Aika-sensei, we just finished running!" protested Kiba, supported by a woof from Akamaru.

"In missions, you have to be able to apply your knowledge in times when you are exhausted. Now go back to class!"

With a distinct loud groan from Naruto, they all trudged back unenthusiastically back indoors.

"The written tests are separated into three parts. One, is everything related to shinobi, and the second is everything not related to shinobi. The last will be explained in a moment. At least half the test will contain things you haven't learned yet, but don't worry. We merely want to see how far your studies have come along.

"The first part you will be doing is the non-shinobi test. It will consist of three different tests: literature; reading and writing test of kana and first-grade kanji, civilian history and culture in Konoha, science and arithmetics. The second part is the shinobi test, which is made of two tests: shinobi history and theory. The last bit will be a logic test, both visual and audio memory tests, and a paper of what-if situations.

"You may start the next test within each section but may not advance further than that. As there is little over half your initial numbers now, I guess almost all of you can sit at different tables. _There is to be absolutely no cheating._ If you do, you will be subjected to Kimi's... mercy."

The students shuddered at the glint appearing in the other teen's red eyes.

"Oh and, you have half an hour for each test! So that means you'll be stuck here for four hours, until two in the afternoon!"

"_What?!_"

"But I'm _hungry!_"

"Anybody want to leave now?"

Reluctantly, two boys walked out.

Naruto yelled, "I'm not leaving after running a hundred laps!"

Aika smiled at him, greatly amused. As she predicted, no one else left after his shout. _This is slowly becoming a pattern._

"Right then, first test starts now!"

The whole event was in a word, boring.

The first part had gone well, apart from several fidgeting from the more restless ones. After it was finished, the students were allowed five minutes of stretching and toilet break.

Then rumbles of empty stomaches started to resound across the room, eliciting blushes from the girls. Apart from that, it too passed uneventfully with Aika and Kimi discussing various things in soft undertones with the Hokage and Iruka.

A short five-minutes later, they were handed out the last part of the test. After half an hour, they read out loud a list of what-if questions twice, and the students were ordered to memorise as much as they can before given time to write down what they heard. Next, they were given a sheet of various images with captions underneath and again, commanded to memorise what they could and replicate the information to the best they could.

The very last test compromised of answering the what-if questions read out loud previously. At this time, most were hungrier than they've ever been, going without food for at least six hours. Their minds were jumbled and as a result, made reckless decisions in the test, which was exactly what Aika wanted them to do.

At last, they were finished. While the students had been doing their tests, Aika, Kimi, and Iruka had been marking the one already done. They had marked all but the memory and what-if tests.

Aika probed the results. "Now, now. Chōji-kun, why did you list food as an answer for almost all questions? Naruto, ramen? And Shikamaru, troublesome?"

The class burst in laughter at that. "We're hungry!" Chōji and Naruto said defensively.

Shikamaru was already half-asleep in between his arms.

She flicked through the papers. "Hm, let's see. Ino, so if you see the floor covered in flour you would pick up the flowers and put it into a bouquet? I don't think that's what you meant to do, really."

Ino managed to direct a weak glare at her.

"I think we might need to redo this test sometime. Okay, class! The last test!"

"_No!_" the class roared, even the quiet Sasuke and Shino, who shook his head, visibly agitated.

"Before that, then, who's leaving?"

Five stood up and left. "Shikamaru, you aren't leaving?"

He muttered something.

"Louder," Aika told him.

"Too troublesome to move."

"Well I guess if that's so... there's nine of you! Of _you!_" She emphasised and clapped her hands in glee. "Brilliant!"

Behind her, Kimi and Iruka had finished marking the memory tests.

The Hokage came forward. "I guess you all deserve to know that before the tests even started, we have come upon a prediction on the nine that will compose the group of children to be in the program. And we happen to be correct, as all nine are currently present."

Of course, surprise came after this pronouncement.

"Yatta! I knew it! I'm just too awesome!"

"But then we shouldn't have needed to take the tests!"

"What? So you put us through all that for nothing?"

"Not for nothing, Ino-chan, Kiba-kun. We can't be exactly sure on who will pass, and persevering through the tests proves all the more of your will to improve."

"Troublesome. Almost everyone here are either a heir or heiress to their respective clans, or at least part of a prominent clan, right?"

Sakura looked down at this, while Naruto said confidently. "But, but! I don't need a stupid clan to get me through!"

"Clans are not stupid, Naruto-kun. They pay an integral part in Konoha's society. Shikamaru-kun, you are partly right, but as you would also note Sakura-chan or Naruto-kun isn't part of a prominent clan, with no offense. We see the potential in you which, and we hope to be able to hone you into a fine shinobi in the future through our plans. I will also speak to your clan heads in regards to this."

"Now, kids, you get to go off early!" Not early as the rest of the others, though. "There will be more details coming up tomorrow, so don't be late, okay? Off you go home, now!"

And so everyone went home, too tired to even hang out with their friends after school, partly excited and dreading what was to come tomorrow.

* * *

**Second chapter! Alright, I planned to have more plots and actual learning stuff in here, but I guess that's all for next chapter. ****Hmm, I was going to make a poll on characters to come, but cos I only got up to here, I guess I'll have to do it next time.**

**Tell me if this story is retarded, kay?**


	3. A New Day, A New Way

**Chapter 3: A New Day, A New Way  
新た日、新た方法 _(Aratabi, Arata Hōhō)_**

* * *

"Morning!" Aika chirped, Kimi to her left. She was being unusually exuberant—for her, at least—to quell her nerves. After all, she didn't know absolutely anything about interacting with children.

The nine students swivelled their heads towards her.

"Let's get to know each other more! Tell me whatever you think the rest of us should know. Kimi will start."

Kimi spoke, looking as she'd rather be anywhere else but in this class. "I am Konami Kimi, (小波キミ). I do not like being disturbed, politics, gullible and foolish people. My favourite time of the day is the hours after sunset and before midnight. One of my hobbies is folding 折り紙 _(_おりがみ_: __o-ri-gami)_. I like to make pinwheels the most, hence why my favourite word is 風車 _(_かざぐるま_: kaza-guruma)_, pinwheels. I like to go on things civilians call Ferris wheels, 観覧車 _(_かんらんしゃ_: kan-ran-sha)_. My favourite bird and animal is 雀 _(_すずめ_: suzume)_, the sparrow and my favourite verb and word is 囀る _(_さえずる_: saezu-ru)_, to chirp. I like to eat cookies and honey." She casted a glare at everyone watching her at that, as if daring them to say anything against it.

They did nothing but gulp.

"As for my skills as a ninja, you will come to know of it more later. However, my natural affinity is fire, but I have some talent in water. My talent lies in genjutsu (げんじゅつ: 幻術) and kenjutsu (けんじゅつ: 剣術)."

A more enthusiastic Aika started. "Okay, it's my turn. I'm Asahina Aika, (朝雛アイカ), I like to eat apricots, avocadoes, and salmon. I hate sushi, wasabi, and gari. I like writing and reading. I like the smell of お茶 _(_おちゃ_: o-cha)_ green tea, and my favourite flower is 睡蓮 _(_すいれん_: sui-ren)_, the water-lily."

She smiled pleasantly at Ino who had whispered to Sakura, "That means delight and peace!"

Aika continued, still a smile on her face. "Uh, my favourite time of the day is the afternoon, where there is sunlight but some thin clouds with a little breeze so that it's not too hot. I like small lakes and ponds, and my favourite animal is 鯉 _(_こい_: koi)_, koi fish. My favourite word and verb is 泡立つ _(_あわだつ_: awa-da-tsu)_, to bubble. My nature affinity is water. I dabble in fūinjutsu (ふういんじゅつ: 封印術) and genjutsu (げんじゅつ: 幻術), am proficient iryōninjutsu, (いりょうにんじゅつ: 医療忍術) but I'm not a combat type," she said sheepishly.

"So are you gonna be teaching us the boring stuff?" Kiba asked.

"What's boring for you isn't for me. I'll have you know that not all ninja perform combat missions," she responded. "Since you spoke first, you get to start."

And so each told their little stories. They were surprised at Kiba and Akamaru's shared birthdates, amused at the extent of Chōji's food obsession, exasperated at Shikamaru's laziness, humoured by Naruto's insistence of reaching the Hokage position, interest in Sasuke's ambition to surpass his older brother, and somewhat fascinated of Shino and his family's relation to insects. They smiled at Hinata's hobby of flower-pressing, intrigued in Ino's knowledge of flowers, and shock at Sakura's love for memorising things.

"Now that we sorta know everyone, I will be going over some 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ with those who scored lower on the literacy test. Naruto, Kiba, Chōji, and Shikamaru, stay. The rest of you go with Kimi, she'll tell you what to do."

"Hai, sensei!" all the students chorused, except for the five's names she mentioned. Sasuke and Shino stayed silent.

After they left the door, Aika turned back to face her charges.

"Shikamaru," she began, smiling sweetly at him. The said boy had to repress a sudden urge to run far, far, away. "I wonder... Could it be that you, perhaps, _flunked_ the test? But I've done a little bit of research here and there, and I found out that maybe you _did_! In fact, my research suggests that you are an _extremely_ intellectual individual for your age, who shouldn't be having absolutely any trouble with first grade 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_. So I thought, hm, maybe, you could teach someone else instead?"

_What is this research is she talking about? I guess I have no choice. _He looked up at her. "Mendokusai," he grumbled.

"What was that?" Aika leaned in forward, red veins starting to visibly bulge on her forehead, a shadow covering the upper half of her face. _S-scary!_ Chōji thought, pausing at his eating.

Hurriedly moving back, he answered hastily, "N-nothing. Who am I teaching?"

All of a sudden, the atmosphere became light. Aika smiled cheerfully. "Well, I've heard that you four like to slip out of class a lot. That might have worked when we had forty people in the class, but it won't work now we only have nine, or four right now. But that means that you guys are friends to a point, so I think I'm giving you to teach... Naruto."

"Eh, why him/me?" Both Shikamaru and Naruto asked at the same time.

"Kiba and Chōji are more or less on the same level, so it'll be far easier for me to teach them. No offence Naruto, but your reading and writing ability is zero. I know that you have no-one to teach you, so that's why we're here for you. But it'll be unfair for both Kiba and Chōji if they get held back for you, ne?"

Kiba opened his mouth, about to boast of how his intelligence surpasses Naruto, before realising what Aika had said. _That's right... Naruto doesn't have any parents or siblings. He's all alone. _He closed his mouth, and he would swear their new teacher gave him an approving glance.

Chōji was hoping to be the one Shikamaru taught; after all, they knew each other the best. But hearing Aika's reasoning, he supposed it made sense.

Naruto had been disappointed—and resigned—at first. _She doesn't want to teach me either. Just like the other teachers._ But then Aika had been smiling at him, and it was so real and not those cold smiles, it was _real_ like the smiles Hokage-ojī and Teuchi-oji and Ayame-nee—and recently, Iruka-sensei—gave him! _I'm not going to hold them back!_ was what he had been about to protest. But he knew it was true, knew that everyone else had families to teach them, and so he _would _be holding them back and that would be unfair, just like how it was unfair that no one could teach him until now.

"Okay! Shikamaru! Teach me everything you know!" Turning to Kiba and Chōji, he continued, "I bet I can learn more new 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ than you guys!"

"What was that? No way you'll ever beat us, right, Chōji?" Akamaru whimpered at his exclusion. "And Akamaru?"

"Eh, I don't know..." Chōji replied uncertainly.

"Just get started now, shall we? None of you are ever beating anyone if we don't start. Shikamaru, Naruto, move to the table behind. Oh, and take this card, the paper and stationery is there. I recommend you to learn using pencil first, we will do calligraphy together with the others. And get the stroke orders right!"

* * *

"Alright! Kiddies, twenty laps around the courtyard, last five has to do twenty push-ups!"

"But se-sensei, there are only f-five of us," Hinata said tentatively.

Looking down on the timid girl, Kimi replied. "So? Fine, then. Last five has to do twenty push-ups, last four has to do twenty sit-ups after those, last three has to do twenty squats on top of those, last two has to do twenty crunches, and the last has to do an extra five laps. Happy? Right. Off you go, now!"

The Hyūga shrank on herself. As they started running, she whispered, "Sorry, g-guys. This is m-my f-fault."

"It's alright, Hinata, you didn't know," Sakura assured her.

The boys were already ahead of them, not paying any attention to the conversation behind them.

Ino scrutinised the dark-haired girl for a few moments. Hinata was a kind girl, a shy one, but kind nevertheless. She'd seen her being bullied once by older kids—she hated to admit it, but she was too scared to interfere. Sakura's bullies were merely girls in their class, stupid girls, at that. They actually believed the flower she threw had been poisonous! Well, at least they're not in the programme, ha!—before Naruto came in to ward them off._ Hinata always had the best interests in her mind for others. She puts them above herself, and is also a loyal girl,_ Ino thought, remembering the offhand tips her father had told her of judging people's traits through their actions.

"I bet she'd have told us that even if you didn't interfere. She's evil," Ino whispered conspirationally. The two other girls giggled, Hinata's face brightening up slightly. "Well, let's go faster! Don't let the boys win, let's show them girl power!"

Together, they sped up, each sporting a smile on their faces.

* * *

"A-ah! Quiet down, quiet down please!" Boku shouted to the energetic three and four-years old kids.

They got louder instead, bouncing around the park.

"What did I do to deserve this cruelty?" he asked the heavens, a fountain of tears streaming down his cheeks. Several birds crowed at him in reply.

His eyes were drawn to the navy blue satchel bag he brought, and an idea came over to his mind. "Yes, yes, I know I'm an idiot." Boku rummaged around inside the bag, and immediately found what he was searching for. He took it out, revealing it to be a transparent plastic bag with colourful kompeitō and a hushed silence immediately fell over the nine kids.

"Kompeitō! I want some!"

"Gimme, gimme!"

"Boku-sensei, can you please, please, ple~ase give me some? I'll be a good girl!" One of the girls pleaded with tearing puppy eyes and quivering lips.

Seeing the dazed look of their temporary teacher, all nine unleashed each of their own.

"P_lea_se...!" They chorused as one.

"Uh, uh..." Boku stumbled back, his arm still high up in the air holding the plastic bag. The boys and girls immediately jumped for it, causing him to leap backwards.

"Hold on, hold on! Um, if you all understand the lesson, I will share all the sweets with you!"

"Really?"

"Waa, thank you sensei!"

Boku scratched his head. "Okay, now please sit down? This week, you will be learning how to read and hopefully write 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_ hira-ga-na)_. You all know what 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_ hira-ga-na) _is, don't you?"

The whole class nodded.

Boku then took out a mini blackboard and set it up on a small wooden post. He got a white chalk and started writing out the characters neatly in right to left columns.

あ、い、う、え、お _(a, i, u, e, o)_

か、き、く、け、こ _(ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)_

さ、し、す、せ、そ _(sa, shi, su, se, so)_

た、ち、つ、て、と _(ta, chi, tsu, te, to)_

な、に、ぬ、ね、の _(na, ni, nu, ne, no)_

は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ _(ha, hi, fu, he, ho)_

ま、み、む、め、も _(ma, mi, mu, me, mo)_

や、ゆ、よ_(ya, yu, yo)_

ら、り、る、れ、ろ _(ra, ri, ru, re, ro)_

わ、を _(wa, wo)_

ん _(n)_

"Today, we will just look and talk about 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_ hira-ga-na)_. Next time, we will be learning two rows each day. Understood?"

"Hai!"

* * *

"Right, what do you know about 漢字 _(_かんじ: _kan-ji)_?"

"It's a lot of lines that means words?"

"Strokes, Naruto, strokes. Remember, for strokes: top to bottom, left to right. Alright, write the ninety-two kana here. We'll go over 漢字 _(_かんじ: _kan-ji) _later." Shikamaru thrusted a piece of paper in front of him. _This way, I could watch his stroke orders while being half-asleep._

Obediently, Naruto slowly wrote them out, starting with the 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_ hira-ga-na)_. _From top to bottom, _あ、い、う、え、お _(a, i, u, e, o)_ it went. The next column—_right to left_—か、き、く、け、こ_(ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)._ After that, さ、し、す、せ、そ _(sa, shi, su, se, so)._ た、ち、つ、て、と _(ta, chi, tsu, te, to),_ his pencil scratched noisily from the top of the small slip of paper to the bottom. Shikamaru's head was lying sideways on the table, so that the sound of the scratches were much more audible to his pressed ear than Kiba's loud noises in front. な、に、ぬ、ね、の _(na, ni, nu, ne, no)_.

Even half-asleep, his eyes were still focusing on Naruto's work. "Ne, Naruto. For な _(na)_ the, it's the 側 _(_ソク:_ soku)_ first and then the—"

"What's soku?" Naruto interrupted, his wide blue eyes inquisitive.

"Do you know of 永字八法 _(_えいじはっぽう:_ ei-ji-hap-pō)_?" Shikamaru had snatched off the pencil and scrawled its 漢字 _(_かんじ:_kan-ji)_ on a corner of the page.

"Wow, Shikamaru! How do you even know this stuff? It looks so complicated!" Naruto's voice was filled with astonishment, in such a childish wonderment that made Shikamaru almost feel as if he was an... older brother. _What a troublesome otōto I have, then._

He sighed. "Anyways, this character," he drew a circle over the character 永 _(_えい: _ei)_, "means eternal. It technically has five strokes," he drew the dot, the small horizontal then long vertical stroke before ending it with an upwards flick, and moving to the left side of the character he drew the rightward before the left downwards stroke, then in the right side a left downwards flick before ending it with a downwards stroke facing the right. "But in 永字八法 _(_えいじはっぽう:_ ei-ji-hap-pō)_, 永 is represented in eight strokes, hence the 八 _(_はつ:_ hatsu) _part in it, meaning eight." Shikamaru wrote the 振り仮名 _(_ふりがな:_furi-ga-na)_, はっ above the word eight.

"Shikamaru, I get how っ _(_small _tsu)_ and つ _(_normal_ tsu) _works, but I don't get how it is with 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_!"

_We're getting sidetracked quite a lot. In this rate, we'll never get anything done. _"Look, I'll explain it later. Back to this, in 永, there are eight strokes.

"The first stroke is the dot at the top, also known as 側 _(_ソク:_ soku)_, literally meaning vicinity," he put the 振り仮名 _(_ふりがな:_ furi-ga-na) _ソク as 片仮名 _(_カタカナ:_ kata-ka-na)_ instead of 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_hira-ga-na)_ due to the nature of the 漢字 _(_かんじ:_kan-ji)_. "The second stroke is the horizontal stroke, which is fairly short here. It's known as 勒 _(_ロク: _roku)_, which means jade table." The characters ロク settling on top of the newly drawn word.

"The third stroke is the vertical stroke 努 _(_ド: _do)_," he swept the pencil down as if it was brush and ink, as opposed to lead stuck in a hollow wood. "It means to exert, but some people also call it 鉄柱 _(tec-chū)_, iron pole."He added ド above the first character, _do_. "The fourth stroke is the upwards left flick after the previous stroke, 趯 _(_テキ: _teki)_," テキ. "I guess it means hook."

"Seriously, how do you memorise all this?" Naruto held the most recent character up to his eyes, marvelling the complexity of it. "Holy! And you remember the stroke orders too?" he asked, not expecting an answer. "You're awesome!"

Shikamaru felt pride rising involuntary in his chest. He squashed it down and cleared his throat.

"The fifth stroke is a right flick, angled upwards, 策 _(_サク: _saku), _horsewhip." The lines of サク, though small, were sharp compared to the fluid strokes of the characters. "The sixth stroke is 掠 _(_リャク: _ryaku)_, which you can call to graze, a downwards left stroke." リャク, he wrote.

"Last two," he said, fearing Naruto had become bored, knowing him. "The seventh is 啄 _(_タク: _taku)_, meaning a peck. It's a down flick to the left. The last is 磔 _(_タク: _taku)_, pronounced the same. It's also downwards, but a right stroke." Shikamaru scribbled タク on top of both the characters, and turned to readily face a snoring Naruto.

But to his surprise, his charge's orbs were still fixated on the characters, a stupefied look glued to them. His mouth was wide open, silent in his awe. Before snapping out of it. "This. Is. _Awesome!_" Naruto quickly copied each of the names of the eight strokes, with surprisingly precise and controlled strokes for someone who didn't know any 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_.

Shikamaru watched silently from the side, his brain whirring. Naruto definitely had natural talent in this. How could none of the teachers have spotted this?

"At this rate, you probably should get into fūinjutsu," he wondered out loud.

"Eh?" Naruto asked absentmindedly, not really paying attention, still focused on the characters he was writing.

Unknown to most, the strokes had been a fascination to Naruto for a long, long time. But there had been no one willing (or had enough time, in the case of Hokage-jiji) to teach him more of it, and he couldn't get into the library for some reason. He disliked reading, but those characters were so _captivating_!

"Ah, well, when you're finished, correct the な."

"Hai, Shikamaru-sensei!" He hurriedly fixed the said character, _na_.

_...What?_

"Naruto, why are you—"

"は、ひ、ふ、へ、ほ _(ha, hi, fu, he, ho)_," Naruto's loud voice overrode Shikamaru's complaints of his new title, pronouncing each 仮名 _(ka-na_) as he wrote them. "ま、み、む、め、も _(ma, mi, mu, me, mo)_. や、ゆ、よ_(ya, yu, yo)_. ら、り、る、れ、ろ _(ra, ri, ru, re, ro)_," the columns were slowly coming to an end.

"わ、を _(wa, wo)_, and ん _(n)_!" he inserted the lone 仮名 _(_かな:_ ka-na_) halfway between the two others, as he had seen in the charts on one of the books they got in the classes.

_A younger brother,_ Shikamaru decided wryly, as Naruto shouted a triumphant "Finish!" and began pestering him to teach more new awesome stuff. _A really annoying one, though._

"Alright. Apart from looking kinda messy," _Like chicken scratch, really, but I won't say that. Yet,_ he thought,"you seem to be alright with this. Continue with the 片仮名 _(_カタカナ:_ kata-ka-na)_ behind the page."

The next few minutes passed without much hassle from Naruto or any corrections from Shikamaru's part, as the stroke orders of the characters were pretty straightforward anyway. Naruto being himself simply continued to read every character he was writing, inciting an irritated "Shut up!" from Kiba.

ア、イ、ウ、エ、オ _(a, i, u, e, o)_

カ、キ、ク、ケ、コ _(ka, ki, ku, ke, ko)_

サ、シ、ス、セ、ソ _(sa, shi, su, se, so)_

タ、チ、ツ、テ、ト _(ta, chi, tsu, te, to)_

ナ、ニ、ヌ、ネ、ノ _(na, ni, nu, ne, no)_

ハ、ヒ、フ、ヘ、ホ _(ha, hi, fu, he, ho)_

マ、ミ、ム、メ、モ _(ma, mi, mu, me, mo)_

ヤ、ユ、ヨ _(ya, yu, yo)_

ラ、リ、ル、レ、ロ _(ra, ri, ru, re, ro)_

ワ、ン、ヲ _(wa, n, wo)_

Naruto flipped the page over and wrote each 片仮名 _(_カタカナ:_ kata-ka-na)_ character in that order, from top to bottom, then right to left after each column was done.

Shikamaru stared boredly through a half open eyelid. He was about to speak when Aika suddenly appeared.

"Done, Naruto-kun?"

"Eh, why aren't you with Kiba and Chōji?" Naruto asked perplexedly.

"Ah, I gave them some work to do," she replied, grinning, and Shikamaru had a feeling the work was not something pleasant. "Now, tell me what's the use of 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_ hira-ga-na)_, 片仮名 _(_カタカナ:_ kata-ka-na)_, 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_. And no, saying that they're strokes that means a bunch of words doesn't count. Tell me what each of the scripts are used for?"

Naruto's nose scrunched up. "Um, 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_ hira-ga-na) _is for like, uh... I don't know, for people who don't like 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_?"

"Incorrect, though that's sort of a part of it. Like, 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_ hira-ga-na) _is used for particles, suffixes, and for example things like your... だってばよ _(da-t-te-ba-yo)_, words where there are no 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji) _for. Or 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ that are too complicated for daily reading or writing, like some of the ones Shikamaru-kun had shown you. What about 片仮名 _(_カタカナ:_ kata-ka-na)_, do you think?"

"Aha! It's for people's names, and for things that come from other places! And, and, for ramen (ラーメン)!"

Both Aika and Shikamaru sweatdropped. "That's right, too. Remember, 片仮名 _(_カタカナ:_ kata-ka-na)_ are also used for italicisation in texts or scientific terms. But I don't think you quite need to know about that now. Okay, 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_, then?"

"Eh... Aren't there like almost all 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji) _for all words? So, like, we actually can use 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ for basically everything?"

"No, not everything. Particles has to be in 平仮名 _(_ひらがな:_ hira-ga-na)_, and writing 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ all the time would be pretty tiring, don't you think? 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ _are_ made of strokes, as you said, but they are also made of different components. A part of 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji) _tells you how to pronounce it, and another part tells you the meaning. Or, the whole thing could just be made of two different 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ together which makes a whole other meaning. For example, 草 _(_くさ: _kusa)_and 月 _(_つき: _tsuki) _makes 朝 _(_あさ: _asa)_. And there are thousands more examples.

"The art of writing 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji) _is called 書道_(_ しょどう: _sho-dō)_, calligraphy, as I'm sure you know. It can be written in three different types of script," Aika continued, thrusting three fingers in front of Naruto's face. "The first one is 楷書 _(_かいしょ: _kai-sho)_. It's how you write when you first start learning a new 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_, and you see them everywhere on printed things. It's the easiest to read out of all the scripts, because the lines are normally clear. But it also takes the longest time to write, especially when writing letters and such.

"So, we have 行書_(_ぎょうしょ: _gyō-sho)_, for that. It's hard to demonstrate it without brush and ink, as pencil don't leave ink trails, but basically 行書_(_ぎょうしょ: _gyō-sho)_ is used for daily writing. At first, it's really annoying to figure out how to read, but you'll get used to it. Here, wait a second." Aika darted to the teacher's desk, opened one of the top drawers and grabbed something. She came back holding a pen, its ink visible through the transparency.

"You do know how to read your family name, don't you?" Naruto nodded vigorously. "Right. Okay, now..."

Aika flicked the cap open before writing 渦巻 _(_うずまき : _uzu-maki) _on the paper, leaving faint trails of the ink . Naruto leaned in to see better, though Shikamaru remained where he was.

"It looks far easier to write," Naruto commented eagerly.

"Yes, that's the whole point for this script. However, in order for others to be understand what you're writing, you need to know remember your stroke orders. Messing them up could change how the entire character looks and thus its meaning, even though parts of the character might still mean the same thing.

"The last type is 草書 _(_そうしょ:_ sō-sho)_, and it's the hardest to read. To most people, it means nothing more than lines and squiggles, and usually only calligraphy masters are able to discern what means what. It's also used in fūinjutsu (ふういんじゅつ: 封印術), as actually writing each character in precise strokes takes far too long for sealing techniques.

"There's far more to learn; like I said, I myself know a fair amount of fūinjutsu (ふういんじゅつ: 封印術), so if you're interested you can come and ask me any basic." The glint in her eyes told Naruto that he'd _better_ be interested. "Oh, and 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ can be read in two different ways: 音読み_(_おんよみ:_ on-yo-mi) _and 訓読み_(_くんよみ:_ kun-yo-mi)_.

"But more on that later. Shikamaru-kun, watch Naruto-kun do his numbers, will you? Make sure he does it neatly," Aika said. "Here, I'll give you a handout."

Aika walked across the classroom, again opening one of the drawers and ruffled through it. After a few moments, she held a sheet of paper and returned to their table, putting it in front of Shikamaru and the eager Naruto. The handout had one to ten on one side and zero, a hundred, a thousand, and ten thousand on the other. Each 漢字 _(_かんじ:_ kan-ji)_ had their 振り仮名 _(_ふりがな: _furi-ga-na)_ beside it, along with its stroke orders and ten spaces to repeat the character over and over again.

"Sure, sure," Shikamaru drawled.

一 _(_いち: _ichi)_  
二 _(_に: _ni)_  
三 _(_さん:_ san)  
_四_(_よん: _yon)_  
五 _(_ご: _go)_  
六 _(_ろく:_ roku)_  
七 _(_ななしち: _nana/shichi)_  
八 _(_はち:_ hachi)_  
九 _(_きゅう・く:_ kyū/ku)_  
十 _(_じゅう: _jū)  
_零 _(_れい: _rei)_  
百 _(_ひゃく: _hyaku)  
_千 _(_せん: _sen)  
_万 _(_まん: _man)_

Glancing at the clock which showed just a few minutes after half past nine, "Just watch me! I'll finish it before break time!" Naruto said confidently.

* * *

"S-so... t-tired..." Sakura groaned out. She had been the very last to finish the laps, and as a result, the most punishment were heaped on her. Kimi-sensei had allowed a ten-minute break between the laps and their punishment, but that had been hardly enough for Sakura to recover and do five more laps on top of eight exercises.

She was _dead tired_.

Sasuke had finished first, almost predictably. Surprisingly, Hinata was next. After five laps of running full out, she had taken to jogging to preserve her stamina, while the other kept on running. The other four saw the wisdom in what she did in the next laps.

Shino and Ino finished together, but instead of doing the exercises served for the third place, they had to do the ones meant for the _fourth_ place instead, meaning an extra twenty crunches for both of them.

Unfortunately for them, instead of being allowed to rest after doing their exercises, they were supposed to do star jumps until the last person finished.

Sakura was on the verge of crawling for the last two laps. After Ino had finished, she had started to cheer for Sakura while doing her own exercises, who was still on her sixteenth lap. Hinata cheered too, every time she had passed. Even _Sasuke _started cheering, though the tone of his "Sakura! Sakura!" was more of in the tone of "hurry up or I'm going to die with jelly legs" signalling the extent of his exhaustion instead of true encouragement.

After two hours, she had finished.

Then Kimi-sensei informed them that they had to remain star-jumping until she finished all the exercises.

They all were allowed the ten-minute break, before starting to star-jump again as Sakura performed the exercises floppily. Kimi-sensei allowed her to do it only half-correctly, and after another hour, they were _finished._

_I did it! _Sakura shouted in her mind before collapsing into sleep.

* * *

After the break, Aika had left to some other place, leaving Kimi with the students. She taught them of civilian history and its government system by casting a genjutsu on them and letting them watch the events play out. The genjutsu she had made was to suit the styles of different individuals—if they prefer learning via text, manga panels, plain real movie-type or even chibi-anime style, the genjutsu would make it appear so.

It would also explain things the way the person hit by the genjutsu would best perceive or understand it. This is because the technique only communicates the ideas of the user, so the receiver would be free to interpret in a way they would understand it the most. A subject that would be boring for most became tolerable, if not fairly interesting.

And thus, it was a nice mental break for those after the kanji-learning and a relaxing session for those who had to do the physical exercises on the previous sessions.

Aika came back after lunch, bringing two students—a boy and a girl—of their age behind her.

"Guys, these two kids will be joining you. This is Shiho," she said, gesturing to the girl with wide round glasses, "and this is Sai," she motioned to the pale boy. "Would you like to introduce yourselves?"

"今日は _(_こんにちは: _kon-nichi-wa)_," Shiho bowed slightly. "My name is Shiho. I like to solve puzzles and do crosswords, um, ah, お願いします _(_おねがいします: _o-nega-i shimasu)_, please treat me well!"

The other, Sai, started speaking with a bland smile on his face. "初めまして _(_はじめまして: _haji-memashite)_. I am Sai, and I like drawing and painting. I look forwards to working with all of you, though I hope that you're not as stupid as you look," he nodded still with the smile towards Naruto.

Naruto stilled.

A moment later, an enraged shout of "_What did you say_?!" rang across the area, accompanied by the giggling of the girls—Shiho had almost immediately joined them—the boisterous laughter of Kiba and a smirk—or a smile viewed from another angle—from Sasuke.

Rising her voice over the din, Aika said, "They will be joining us in the classes, so please make them feel welcomed."

* * *

Later that evening, three ANBU operatives stood before the Hokage's desk.

"I have an S-ranked mission for you. The time period ranges from short to long depending on your performance."

Hiruzen watched as his shinobi—and one kunoichi—remained still, conveying understanding without any response.

"I trust you all know the civil war situating in Kiri?" Quick, sharp nods. "I would like you to support the bloodline rebels," he told them bluntly. Leaning forwards, he continued, not giving them any time to respond. "I want to be very clear on this. Do _not_ implicate Konoha in this, at all. However, I would like you to meet the currently most prominent leader of the rebellion, a kunoichi called Terumī Mei. I have informed her of your arrival, and tried my best to ensure that she would receive this news."

"Hokage-sama..." the rookie shrinked as the two other ANBU jerked their heads towards him at the intrusion. He cleared his throat self-consciously. "Forgive me for the interruption." The Hokage nodded and made a motion.

"Will there be a fourth member joining us?" A four-men squad was usually more common, though two- and three- wasn't unusual. However, judging by the difficulty of the task, he would have had expected more people joining in the mission.

"Ah, yes. There will also be two other Konoha-nin joining in with you. One, I am sure you all would have worked with at some point. He is a very efficient shinobi, and you wouldn't have any qualms having him on the squad. The second, however, none of you will know. He has a separate mission assigned to him. The success of his mission would make it simpler for you to complete your own. After you finish your objective he will regroup back and give you the remaining orders. Inu-san will be your leader for now, but as of then he will be your leader.

"Further information is in the scrolls," he said, tossing a scroll each to his stoic shinobi.

"Meet at the gates at nine in the morning; your new comrade will be waiting. Don't be late," he warned. Hiruzen wasn't taking any chances for a certain copy-nin to be late, even on an S-ranked ANBU mission. "Dismissed."

The three departed with shunshin, each with different thoughts regarding to the mission.

* * *

The first—the one wearing a mask under a mask under a mask—vaguely wondered who his to-be comrades would be. While officially, ANBU identities were strictly confidential to the Hokage, the ANBU Commander and the elders, unofficially, you were allowed to reveal your faces to your squad members. Of course, when you happen to have silver crooked hair, it shouldn't come as a big surprise when they all knew who they were working with already.

But there was something else the multi-masked shinobi pondered about. _Do they know the value of teamwork? _He knew the rest of his squad members; having worked with each before. He might not know them personally, but knew them well enough by now to know they would be a good functioning team.

He had some suspicions of the first shinobi that would be joining them. _But this new person..._ Ah well, he should trust the Hokage on this. He wouldn't trust them with such an important mission—_interfering with international matters in such a direct way!_—and have an extra shinobi if he didn't think the addition was necessary and unable to cooperate. Anyway, whoever this person was... _I will not abandon a comrade._

Another chosen member who had interrupted earlier, wearing the mask of a tiger—it was _not_ of a cat, no matter what new sempai said—was worrying. He had been in the ANBU for a mere several weeks, and it was disconcerting for him to be given such a monumental task. No; he wasn't degrading the values of his teammates in that, but as for him alone, what could he do? It was an honour to be given an S-ranked mission so soon, as it conveyed the trust the Hokage had for him, but still worrying. What if he was the _cause_ for the mission failure? What if _he_ butchered it up? The sheer amount of things that he could screw up on; the political backlash if they were found out...

The last—the only kunoichi in the squad—had been the calmest, compared to the rest of her squad members. She had full confidence in the Hokage's decision; if he thought she and the others could perform this mission, then she would trust him. While she had had some self-doubt at first, she also knew she could count on the other three, just as they could count on her. Even if one of them was a rookie—yes, she could tell he was a rookie—and another an unknown factor. After all, the Hokage wouldn't send them to their deaths.

But instead, her mind wandered on another fact the Hokage had given them. _The currently most prominent leader... a kunoichi?_ About time for the women to show up the men!

* * *

Across the desert in Suna, a carrier hawk arrived in a building. Seeing it was a normal-paced one, sent from Konoha and the fact that they were in peacetime, the scroll was sent to decoders who took their time setting to work.

* * *

A few hours later, another hawk brought its own message to Kumo. As expected, the relationship between Konoha and Kumo was tense after the Hyūga incident. And thus the intelligence squad worked as fast as they could to decode the scroll they received.

* * *

Meanwhile, in Mizu, where things were more chaotic, the brown-coated hawk was immediately sent to the Mizukage's office. They were in a civil war and thus no divisions existed; they couldn't afford the manpower to make up these divisions. Instead, an orange-masked man moved forwards and plucked the scroll to read the news. Taking a few moments to sort out the code, he read it without much enthusiasm.

_Hm... interesting._

* * *

In almost at the same moment as the brown-coated hawk, another bird arrived at a tent amongst numerous other shelters, well-hidden by genjutsu and the mist. A slender woman with auburn hair in her twenties plucked the scroll out of the bird's back.

She pursed her lips at the contents. Five shinobi was not a lot, even if the Copy Ninja and an Uchiha prodigy was with them. _A fine specimen, that one. _But the _other_ shinobi mentioned... Unknowingly, she echoed the thoughts of her worst enemy's puppeteer.

_Hm... interesting._

* * *

"You're sure it doesn't contain a bomb?"

"Hai, Tsuchikage-sama!"

"Remember how good those tree-huggers are at those damned seals," Ōnoki banged the desk as a certain blond shinobi came into mind.

"O-of course, sir!"

The nervous woman scuttled away urgently to find the means to decipher whatever missive Konoha might drop on their country.

* * *

**Jutsu List:**

**情報可視化の術 _(_じょうほうかじかのじゅつ: _Jōhō_ _Kashika no Jutsu) - _Visualising Information Technique (original):  
****Genjutsu, C-rank, close-mid range  
**The user casts a genjutsu on a victim(s) to send them information. The information could be displayed, or visualised by the victim in such a way that could be easily understood by the individual. Chakra usage depends on the amount of the information to be visualised, the quality and the range the genjutsu is cast on. Mostly used in non-combat situations.**  
**

**瞬身の術 _(_しゅんしんのじゅつ:_ Shunshin no Jutsu)_ - Body Flicker Technique (canon):  
Ninjutsu, D-rank, supplementary, Ram  
**A high-speed movement technique. Can have elemental variations including: leaves, sand, mist, water, etc. This isn't a space-time jutsu, simply swift movement.**  
**

* * *

**Word List (in corresponding sections):**

**折り紙**_**(**_**おりがみ****: **_**o-ri-gami**_**) **_– _origami**  
****風車**** _(_****かざぐるま****: _kaza-guruma)_ **_–_ pinwheel**  
****観覧車****_(_****かんらんしゃ****_: kan-ran-sha) – _**Ferris wheels**  
****雀****_(_****すずめ****_: suzume)_** – sparrow**  
****囀る****_(_****さえずる****_: saezu-ru) _****–** to chirp**  
****お茶****_(_****おちゃ****_: o-cha) _**– green tea**  
****睡蓮****_(_****すいれん****_: sui-ren)_** – water-lily**  
****鯉****_(_****こい****_: koi)_**** – ****koi fish****  
****泡立つ****_(_****あわだつ****_: awa-da-tsu) _**_–_ to bubble**  
****漢字**** _(_****かんじ****:****_ kan-ji) _**– Chinese characters**  
****めんどくさい**** _(_****_mendokusai) _**– troublesome **  
****お爺**** _(_****おじい****: _o-jī) _**– old man, grandfather, can be used as or with a suffix**  
****伯父**** _(_****おじ****: _o-ji) –_** middle-aged man, uncle, can be used as or with a suffix  
**姉 (ねえ: _nee)_** – older sister, can be used as or with a suffix  
**先生 _(_せんせい: _sen-sei)_** – teacher, doctor, can be used as a suffix

**こんぺいとう _(ko-m-pe-i-to-u) _**– Japanese sweet drops  
**平仮名**** _(_****ひらがな****:_ hira-ga-na) _**– one of the writing systems in Japan, the most "basic one"

**永字八法**** _(_****えいじはっぽう****:_ ei-ji-hap-pō)_ **and its principles are already explained within the chapter, won't bother repeating  
**振り仮名**** _(_****ふりがな****:_ furi-ga-na)_ _–_ **small kana written at the top for horizontal writing or right for vertical writing, telling us how to pronounce a kanji  
**片仮名**** _(_****カタカナ****:_ kata-ka-na)_** – another of the Japanese writing systems, usually used for foreign words or shops, italicisation, scientific words, etc.  
**仮名**** _(_****かな****:_ ka-na_) – **hiragana and katakana are kana**  
****だってばよ**** _(da-t-te-ba-yo)_ **– Naruto's verbal tic which technically doesn't mean anything  
**ラーメン**** _(ra-a-me-n)_** – Naruto's favourite food, noodles  
**草**** _(_****くさ****: _kusa)_ **– grass  
**月**** _(_****つき****: _tsuki)_** – moon  
**朝**** _(_****あさ****: _asa)_** – morning  
**書道****_(_****しょどう****: _sho-dō)_** – calligraphy  
**楷書**** _(_****かいしょ****: _kai-sho)_** – a type of script in calligraphy, ones that appear in print  
**行書****_(_****ぎょうしょ****: _gyō-sho)_** – a type of script in calligraphy, used in daily writing  
**渦巻**** _(_****うずまき**** : _uzu-maki) –_ **Naruto's surname**  
****草書**** _(_****そうしょ****:_ sō-sho) _**– a type of script in calligraphy, used by master only usually  
**音読み****_(_****おんよみ****:_ on-yo-mi) _**– Chinese reading of a character**_  
_****訓読み****_(_****くんよみ****:_ kun-yo-mi) _**– Japanese reading of a character

**今日は**** _(_****こんにちは****: _kon-nichi-wa) _**– hello, good afternoon (after 11 AM normally)  
**お願いします**** _(_****おねがいします****: _o-nega-i shimasu)_ **– (lit.) please treat me well  
**初めまして**** _(_****はじめまして****: _haji-memashite)_** – (lit.) first time meeting, but usually means nice to meet you

**Naruto-verse terms:**

******幻術 ****_(_****げんじゅつ****: _gen-jutsu_****_) _**– illusion techniques******  
****剣術 ****_(_****けんじゅつ****: _ken-jutsu_****_) _**– art of the sword**  
****封印術 ****_(_****ふういんじゅつ****: ****_f_****_ū-_****in-jutsu**) – art of sealing******  
****医療忍術 ****_(_****いりょうにんじゅつ****: ****_i-ry_****_ō-_****nin-jutsu**) – medical ninja techniques**  
****火影 _(_ほかげ: _ho-kage) _********–**(lit.) fire shadow  
土影** _(_つちかげ: _tsuchi-kage) _**– (lit.) earth shadow**  
****忍び _(_しのび: _shino-bi) _**– a ninja  
**くのいち **_**(ku-no-i-chi)** _  
**忍者 (にんじゃ: nin-ja)** (lit.) one who endures

**Vocab of the chapter:**

**一 _(_いち: _ichi) – _**1**  
二 _(_に: _ni) –_**2  
三** _(_さん:_ san) – _**3**_  
_****四_(_よん: _yon) – _**4**  
五 _(_ご: _go) – _**5**  
六 _(_ろく: _roku)_** – 6**  
****七 _(_なな・しち: _nana/shichi) – _**7 **  
****八 _(_はち: _hachi) _**– 8 **  
****九 _(_きゅう・く: _kyū/ku) _**– 9**  
****十 _(_じゅう: _jū) – _**10**_  
_****零 _(_れい: _rei) – _**0**  
百 _(_ひゃく: _hyaku) – _**100**_  
_****千 _(_せん: _sen) – _**1000**_  
_****万 _(_まん: _man) – _**10000

* * *

**Original upload date: 28/10/13  
**

* * *

**Wow the vocab lists sure took a loooong time to do. Next chapter I'm putting it right after every time I use it. Otherwise it's just plain full of _stress_, whew. To those who are thinking, "Why can't she just _not_ use any Japanese terms in the first place?" Well, the whole point of this story is also to educate people, including Japanese terms.**

**Exams are coming... So writing speed is slow. When I get too tired of revising, it's writing time! My muse has inspired two unfinished one-shots for me. It's annoying how I just can't put one of the scenes down onto paper and as for the other, it just got to a confrontational part and I just couldn't word it right.**

**I have a concrete idea for my next chapter, now just a matter of typing the words. As you can probably see, the structure (ish) of the chapters are gonna be something like character interactions, learning about new things, and actual plot ongoing. Next time we'll see what the scroll says and who the other person is (though you can probably guess already), etc.**

**Yay!**


End file.
